2017:
August:
Moneystone
Quarry Holiday Camp Judicial Review (JR)
The JR was heard in
the High Court in Manchester on Thursday last week, the 20th
July. The case lasted all day but the judge reserved his
decision. We expect the result towards the end of August and
we will publish it when recieved.
Moneystone
Public Inquiry
With regard
to the appeal by Laver Leisure on 0682, the Planning Inspector
David Cullingford held a preliminary meeting with all 'Main
Parties' in Leek on Thursday 27 July. At meeting were SMDC, the
Appellant - Laver Leisure (LL) and their legal representatives, as
well as the 5 "Rule 6" parties.
The Inspector went
through the way the Public Inquiry would be organised and a
preliminary timetable established. Several queries were raised and
answered and a few queries reserved for when the Inquiry
commences.
The big surprise of
the day was the "Statement of Common Ground" (SoCG) between LL and
SMDC. This is a normal part of the process within the overall
Public Inquiry requiring the parties to agree on what it is in the
Planning Application they do agree on - thus leaving the elements
they disagree on to the Inquiry. SMDC had stated previously that
they would vigorously defend their 0682 refusal, however the SoCG
as produced by SMDC shows that the 13 metre high Hub will be
replaced by a 6 metre high one, that all the lodges in Black
Plantation have been relocated elsewhere within the site and that
there will be additional screening with regard the views of the
Listed Building - Little Eaves Farm. These are precisely the
proposals passed by SMDC's Planning Committee contained within the
0378 application. As the formal substitution of 0682 by 0378 was
previously refused by the Planning Inspectorate, it is something of
a surprise to see it introduced again within the SoCG. The
Inspector is to rule later if this 'introduction' via the SoCG is
acceptable to him.
Also mentioned, and
later sent to the Rule 6 parties, was a very lengthy Town and
Country Planning Act (1980) Section 106 agreement that is to be
signed by SMDC and LL if the Public Inquiry were to go in favour of
allowing the appeal. This is another barrel of worms to be gone
through to see just what is likely to be allowed to happen in the
future with regard the proposed Moneystone Park. These should be
accessible to you via SMDC's website (link to follow). There are
also likely to be planning conditions added at some
point.
The Inspector raised a
few queries with the appellant regarding parking and vehicle trip
rate volumes which LL have agreed to confirm by means of one of the
several expert witnesses they wish to call at the
Inquiry.
The Inspector
specifically noted that there were 90 letters requesting refusal at
the Public Inquiry with just one letter in support. Many thanks to
those of you who wrote to Bristol to make your points regarding the
appeal.
The Main Parties to
the Inquiry have been allotted their time slots in the inquiry and
some other non-Rule 6 parties, who have also indicated that they
wish to speak at the Inquiry have been allocated time as there are
only 3 or 4 of them. Also the Inspector expects other members of
the public to wish to speak at the Inquiry. He has therefore
allocated some time for this to happen as well. It will therefore
be necessary for those of you who do have points to make to turn up
on the first day and to gain the consent of the Inspector,
according to the rules and conditions by which he has to abide, by
requesting this at the appropriate point in the proceedings. Please
be aware that there is no absolute right to be allowed to speak
although this is generally granted.
There is much
preparation work to do now, and not a lot of time in which to do
it, before the enquiry opens on Tuesday 6 November, but we will do
our best to keep you informed of developments, particularly that of
the JR decision.
3 x SMDC
Consultations
SMDC has loaded their
website with 3 large public consultation exercises. These are the
final draft documents that councillors have accepted will be
council policy from 2017 to 2031, unless there are necessary
changes as a result of this latest, new public consultation
exercise which has now started. Below are the links to these
consultations, if you haven't already received them directly as a
result of previously registering with SMDC. You will have 6 weeks
in which to raise any points with SMDC with regard these documents.
There are many documents per consultation and of course many pages
within each document. It will be difficult if not impossible to
read all that they produced in the timescales available and
formulate a cohesive CVCS view. We will however attempt to do this.
Please note though that many of the documents do not print off as
they should - a point which will be raised directly with
SMDC shortly. It will also be raised that 6 weeks is far
too short a timescale in which to read and absorb these documents
and their implications.
We recommend that
you open each heading and sub-heading and pick those documents you
which to read from the selections in each of the 3 consultations.
Friends and family in other locations, including Leek, Cheadle and
Biddulph might also be very interested in what SMDC planners have
in mind for us.
The CVCS committee
will be looking at these consultations as much as we possibly can
in the next 6 weeks, but in order to try and cover them as
completely as possible can we please ask you to view the
sections you are interested in, such as your own locality, make
your points to SMDC but copy them to us at this email address. In
this way we might just manage to cover these important
consultations and bring to everyone's attention -
including SMDC councillors and planners - the deficiencies and
benefits found..
Certainly some members
will want the changes proposed for their areas and others will not
be so keen on them. CVCS is a broad church and is therefore willing
to advise and help anyone who wishes to make their views known to
SMDC if at all possible. As there are well over 200 CVCS members
please bear in mind that if there are a large number of requests
for help, getting back to you might be delayed.
SMDC's proposals will
affect most us in one way of another and so we are hoping
that this will be joint effort for all of us in garnering as much
knowledge and information as possible to help as many people as
possible to respond to these consultations. Some 2000 people
responded to one of last years earlier versions of the same
consultations, which is a good number. However SMDC need to know
your views in order that their plan is as broadly acceptable as is
possible given the constraints of Government policy. If SMDC don't
know what you want, or don't want, then they will carry on
regardless. Let's make the number many more than 2000 this time as
this is THE important consultation.
After reading the
sections you are interested in, if there is sufficient member
interest, and from the CVCS committee point of view sufficient
knowledge to pass on, an extraordinary CVCS meeting could be
convened.
Consultation 1
- Staffordshire Moorlands Local Plan - Preferred Options will
be available for you
to view and comment
between the following dates:
Start date: 31/07/17
10:00
End date: 22/09/17
17:00
Please select the
following link to view this event:
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Staffordshire Moorlands District Council - Staffordshire
Moorlands Local Pl...
This consultation seeks views on the Local Plan Preferred
Options. This includes proposed policies, sites and bo...
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Consultation 2 - Sustainability Appraisal
Report for Preferred Options July 2017 will be
available for you to view and comment between the
following dates:
Start date: 31/07/17 10:00
End date: 22/09/17 17:00
Please select the following link to view this
event:
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Staffordshire Moorlands District Council - Sustainability
Appraisal Report for Preferred Options July 2017
Sustainability Appraisal report prepared alongside the SMDC
Local Plan preferred options July 2017
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Consultation 3 - Green Infrastructure
Strategic Network for Staffordshire Moorlands will be
available for you to view and comment between the
following dates:
Start date: 31/07/17 10:00
End date: 22/09/17 17:00
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Staffordshire Moorlands District Council - Green Infrastructure
Strategic Network for Staffordshire Moorlands - Green...
GI Strategy to accompany the Staffordshire Moorlands Local
Plan Preferred Options July 2017
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2016
March:
Laver Leisure lodge
appeal against the planning committee's rejection of the Moneystone
Quarry holiday park
2015
November:
Moneystone Holiday Park planning
application is Refused !
On 26/11/15 SMDC planning committee voted overwhelmingly against
Laver Leisure by 9-1 regarding the proposed leisure development at
Moneystone. The grounds were safety, unsuitability of roads, scale
and other factors.
The whole meeting was filmed. You can view it on http://www.staffsmoorlands.gov.uk/…/meetings-ag…/web-casting
This may well not be the last we hear of the application as
Laver could appeal the decision we will keep you posted.
